


A tiger, a kid and few cows

by Inkn1ght1



Category: Baahubali - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence, Gen, One Shot, Slice of Life, hunting au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 01:52:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkn1ght1/pseuds/Inkn1ght1
Summary: Amarendra and Bhalla go hunting.





	A tiger, a kid and few cows

**Author's Note:**

> This is all about Bromance.

Once I outwaited a tiger on the hunt. Granted it was old and slow, and I had backup; but it still was a tiger. We were just out of training. Kattappa had run out of things to teach us. Amma said we might get a new teacher if things went according to her plan. _Only the Amman knew what her plans were._

We were hunting by ourselves for the first time. When Kattappa said hunt, I had dark luscious forests, impassable pathways, and thorny bushes with poisonous fruits in mind. But turns out this was not to be. My dreams of stalking after a tiger through the trees and long grass was dashed when I heard the details.

"The village is near the northern mountains. Mostly herders and wood cutters and a few shopkeepers. Two weeks back, a few goats and a cow that was attacked. People thought it was a stray fox or wolf. Last week, it came out and almost dragged away a child. People shouted and threw sticks at it, so it ran away. Seems like an old one. But its starting hunt people. Get rid of him. !"

  
"This is not a suitable assignment for a prince." Father had shouted.

Amma simply blessed us to come back victorious.

We scouted out the area and received adulations from the villagers. They had never seen soldiers from Mahishmati, let alone princes. Small children soon began to flock around us, like they always did when Bahu was around. He had quite a few village girl admirers too.

By the time we got rid of everyone and settled down in a tent we had pitched ourselves, it was late. We had to plan. Dawn would come soon enough.

The tiger had come from the north of the village, it was dense forest out there.

"We need bait. The grand old thing won't come out of the safety of the dense jungle otherwise."

I had no intention going out into that forest, even though I had dreamed of forest stalking. Baahu would see a deer and make friends with the herd. Might even decide to stay there and become an ascetic. _Then what will i tell Amma?_

"That unused patch of fields seems ideal for digging." Baahu figured. He made the plan. He was good at strategy. I was good at implementation.

We decided to dig a hole and cover it up with dirt and breakable branches out in that field. There were two huge tamarind trees with spread out branches. As additional traps, we could make a cage that would drop down when released. As usual, Baahu picked up a parchment to sketch out a device that would activate the cage release. And I slept, dreaming of my Indu.

Morning came. We secured a goat kid that bleated loudly enough to wake the dead. I got two villagers to come and dig the hole in the morning. And decided to place wooden spears inside. Additional security. The tiger was old, but one didn't live to that age without being cunningly smart. Case in point, my father. _AAAgh!! I did not want to think about him that morning._

Baahu led the kid to slaughter. Nope, he carried the thing in his arms. And gently tied it to the post near the proposed hole. And he fed it nice green leaves, hand fed it. The kid munched on happily.

"Baahu, dear brother. We need it to cry and bleat loud to get the tiger to come."

"Bhalla, brother. We are not starving Shambu. "

The idiot had named it!!!!

Nothing to be done now. We had a good plan. The goat will cry out eventually, goats don't keep silent. I told myself it was a very good plan.

And yes, it was a good plan. On paper.

The first day- yes, the hunt took forever- we spent modifying and adapting the plan to reality.Baahu was in charge of the goat kid and the design of the cage. I made the cage, the stakes and supervised the pit. We called it the pit of sorrow, as even when unused, mud was mud. It was slimy and squishy and all sorts of smelly, and it dripped into the pit from the sides like tears. And it was slippery. At least the tiger won't be able to climb back up if he fell in and the wooden stakes didn't penetrate its hide. Well, it was Baahu who called it Pit of Sorrow, poet that he was. I simply called it the Maw of Death, the spikes and stakes resembling the teeths and fangs of a horrid nightmarish creature. The smell didn't help either.

I got Baahu to starve the goat kid for half a day, so it would cry out and bring the tiger out. But by the time dusk rolled in, and the goat's voice started to go out, Baahu decided to feed it.

"The tiger might come out at dark. We could catch it at night, bro."

"No way I am letting Shambu go hungry."

Right.. Shambu can't go hungry. There was no arguing with Baahu in that mood. The tiger didn't come the next day either. The kid slept all day. At night, I stood guard and imagined a ferocious beast, with heavy paws thundering into the clearing to get to the goat. The goat slept. Its breathing making its chest rise up and down. I imagined vicious canines closing in on its skin, tearing it and blood flying. And my spear flashing as it flew through the air with a whistle and plunging into the thick hide of the tiger. I imagined the furious roar of a wounded beast, the roar of a dying creature. And eyes going blank as life leaves its body. Nothing happened that night.

We abandoned the tent and moved into a treehouse on one of the wild trees bordering the village by the next week. We were always staying guard. The villagers took turns to feed us. The village girls took great delight in bringing us snacks and flirting with Baahu. The village had one stinky pond that every body took bath in. I would have preferred not to take a bath in that pond, but then Baahu pointed out that our stink might run the tiger away.

I was used to the marble tub in the palace. Even the river and ponds near the palace were a far better choice than this stinky pond. It smelled of cows and various pond weeds. And the fish kept attacking from all sides. But I only complained about the fish.

Baahu looked confused.

"Fish didn't attack me, " then he smiled, "only the girls did. One of them even tried to steal my towel." The idiot looked smug.

"I used the other side of the pond, " I replied.

"The other side?," he asked, "Where they bathe the cows?"

I didn't know that. I saw the horde of women and quietly moved to the other side. That explained the cow smells and why the fish attacked.

"My big brother who would stand against a rampaging herd of wild gaurs, got scared of a bunch of women. Wonder what Amma would say about that??" The idiot had the audacity to laugh.

I didn't have anything to say to that. But then a good offense is the best defence.

"Wonder what Amma would say about you taking bath with a couple of village girls! Hope none of them comes to the Rajsabha in a few months with a huge belly claiming to carry the heir to Mahishmati.!!" I fake shuddered.

"No..!!" He stopped and stared at me, "You take that back." He pointed at me

"Anything is possible." I shrugged.

"But i didn't do anything. I winked at a few of them who swam a little close, but that's it. " Amarendra Baahubali was scared. This was my opportunity.

"May be that is enough." I shrugged again, "You know our line is considered to be very potent. Perhaps a wink is all it takes."

I had never heard that. But the idiot didn't need to know that did he?

He didn't say anything to that but he was thinking on it. If the jungle would stop rustling in the wind, I swore I would have been able to hear his brain working.

Baahu knelt near the oat to feed him more grass. With all the fussing Baahu did, I thought the goat was gaining weight.

"Baahu, we need that thing to cry out. Don't feed him so much, he is sleeping all day these days."

I picked up a spiky wood I was turning into a spear, and sharpened it.

"And don't get too attached, its bait. "

To this he untied the kid and picked him up,

"No way we will get him killed. He is terrified as it is. We have to get the tiger before he gets Shambu."

Here we go again.

The idiot had to save all of creation. Usually, I was patient with his saviour mode. But today, the cow smell and lack of success was getting at me. So I grumbled out.

"That kid is going to be lunch anyway. Either the tiger gets a mouthful before we kill it, or we eat it as celebration afterwards."

He didn't answer. He kept stroking the animal and staring at me as if I had uttered something blasphemous.

_Really?_

I turned to him, stake and knife in hand,

"Where do you think the meat for your favourite tender mutton roast comes from?"

This time Baahu shrugged and said, "Older animals."

"Keep telling yourself that."

We were so engrossed in our banter that it took us a moment to realise that the jungle had grown still. The kid was bleating almost quietly. Baahu stopped stroking it and stilled. It huffed and emptied its bowels, right over Baahu's arms.

Baahu half dropped the kid to the ground.

I kept the spike close to my side , close to invisible under my angavastram. Baahu wore no such clothes, but he made his axe appear in his arm out of seemingly nowhere. He did that stupid showy trick every time at practice. The palace butterflies would swoon. Now the idiot was showing off at goat kids.

We both smelled the pungent meat smell of the animal at the same time. It was in the tall grass, some twenty feet ahead of us, and was moving stealthily towards us.

The trap was to my left, and Baahu stood slightly behind it. The goat had run off, Amman knew where. If only the idiot had kept the goat tied to the stump at his feet. The tiger would have to step on the fake earth on the trap to get to the goat. Now we had no bait, and a tiger that might just run away if provoked. Following it through the jungle was impossible. I took a step to my right, and Baahu stepped back at the same moment.

And the goat kid bleated once from my right. The tiger lunged at us.

I planted my feet and threw the spear at it. The heavy mass of the tiger was moving like water when Baahu's axe whistled past my right ear.

My spear hit the tiger, and it crashed into the trap. The creature broke the stakes in its fall and started scurrying up the walls. The muddy tears of the pit kept its hold slippery but still it heaved, its flank bleeding heavily. My spear had nicked something major. And then there was a huge crash as the cage was falling from the top, the axe having triggered its lever.

The heavy cage blocked the tiger inside thetrap. It roared once, twice, then heaved and fell. I stood watching the once majestic predator. It lay on its side, my spear broken but shards must have still been inside its body. Its bleeding side had drenched the earth.. There was no brightness in its eyes. Its light was dim, and a once mighty creature went quietly into the falling dusk.

I turned to see Baahu run off into the jungle after the stupid goat.

"Idiots!, both of them." I muttered.

" Don't bring back another tiger, Baahu." I shouted after him and went to sit under the tree.

............................................................................................

 

We were off to the palace, our sachels were packed and put inside the cart. We were going by bullock cart. Our horses were stabled at a merchant's place in another village. Kattappa did not want to risk the horse. He doesn't care about risking the princes. But horses? nope.. too precious.

I sat on the inner side. And Baahu on the outer. After all, he had many a village girl to say farewell to.

"Careful, brother. remember what I said."

I nudged at him with my leg as he kept waving and winking at the girls. He stopped winking and turned.

The cart moved.

We saw cowherds moving their cows towards the pond.

"You know, Anna," Baahu sat near me and said softly. It was never a good sign when he said Anna.

I kept silent and alert.

"You did spend a lot of time in the pond yourself. If our line is that potent, it could be cow that comes to Mahishmati carrying its heir."

I couldn't speak. I was too sunned.

Then the preposterous idiot proved himself stupid by nudging me towards the cows wading through the road.

"Which one do you think is my future sister-in-law?"

No restraints now. I grabbed his big head into a chokehold.

_Amma will have to do with only one son. I will tell her that he ran off with the tiger to live in the forests. She won't miss this idiot._


End file.
